Text tabled : B6-0469/2006

  Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL), in writing. (PT) It is appalling that Parliament has opted to take the view suggested by this report, namely putting Israel and Palestine – that is, the aggressor and the victim – on an equal footing, when what is required is clear condemnation of both the war crimes committed by Israel in Lebanon, and the attacks and the State terrorism that Israel continues to perpetrate in the Palestinian occupied territories, including Gaza. This is a bad start.

At a particularly complex and dangerous time, what the EU should be doing is, at least, to demand that Israel comply with the UN decisions as regards its occupation of the Palestinian territories, the immediate cessation of Israel’s operation of the occupied Palestinian territories, the immediate lifting of the Gaza blockade, that is to say, by reopening the border with Egypt and allowing the free movement of persons and goods, the return of the Golan Heights to Syria and the Shebaa Farms to Lebanon, the immediate release of elected Palestinian ministers and members of parliament, the opening of negotiations for the exchange of prisoners, the end of settlements, and, lastly, that Israel resume the return of Palestinian tax and customs revenue.

Lasting peace in the Middle East is dependent on respect for the rights of the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese people to their own sovereignty.